Jan. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Peregrine Pharmaceuticals Inc. soared
the most in 11 years after the company said flaws in a study of
its experimental lung cancer drug bavituximab didn’t extend to
the highest treatment dose.

Peregrine rose 80 percent to $2.43 at the close in New
York, the biggest single-day increase since October 2001. The
shares have gained 167 percent in the past 12 months.

An internal review found that discrepancies in a mid-stage
study were limited to the placebo and low-dose treatments, the
Tustin, California-based biotechnology company said today in a
statement. There were no issues with the higher 3 milligram dose
that was shown last year to double survival from non-small cell
lung cancer. Peregrine had said the positive results were
unreliable because of questions about the treatment codes
assigned to individual patients.

The review of the study from the second of three phases
needed for U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval shows
bavituximab has a “favorable” tumor response rate and overall
survival when the high dose is compared to a combination of the
low-dose and placebo arms, the company said. Peregrine didn’t
provide updated results. More details about the findings will be
given once the re-analysis is complete, the company said.

“We believe that these results of our internal review and
subsequent data analysis support advancing bavituximab into
Phase III development for the treatment of second-ling non-small
cell lung cancer,” said Joseph Shan, vice president of clinical
and regulatory affairs at Peregrine. “We are now preparing for
discussions with the FDA and worldwide regulatory agencies.”